Stalwart New Zealand-bred pacer Destreos notched his first win since arriving in Tasmania three months ago with a sensational harness racing victory in the Cannonball Charge over 1609 metres at Luxbet Park Hobart on Sunday night.
The Ken Rattray-trained gelding was having his fifth start in the state since arriving from Queensland in early September.
Destreos earned a reputation as a war horse in Queensland where he notched most of his 97 wins and despite having his 439th start he showed the athleticism of a much younger horse to register his first Tasmanian win.
Driver Gareth Rattray settled Destreos near last from his outside second-row draw (13) but when the race favourite Devendra, that is Inter Dominion-bound, set off three-wide to make his charge 800 metres out, Rattray latched his charge on his back for a cart home.
Devendra hit the front in the home straight but when Rattray called on Destreos to challenge he moved alongside the favourite and powered to the line to score convincingly.
"That was how he has to be driven to win here in Tassie because he's always going to draw that bad the way the races are framed," Rattray said.
"He's getting closer to 100 wins and hopefully he can to that before the end of the year."
Rattray snared a double courtesy of his handy pacer Tuxedo Max scoring another impressive all-the-way win.
"I thought Tuxedo Max was next to a good thing from the pole in his race and he never let me down."
Destreos and Tuxedo Max will have their next starts in Hobart on Friday week.
Peter Staples